A League of Their Own
by Milquetoast95
Summary: After nationals & before the new year begins, the Generation of Miracles & a few teammates find themselves in a co-ed exhibition tournament, pitting countries from around the world against each other, right in the heart of Kagami's childhood city. The GoM were bound to meet players that Kagami grew up with eventually, right? And who's to stop Aomine from looking if some were girls?
1. Home, Sweet Home

**A/N: I haven't even finished my other story, yet I couldn't stop myself from writing about basketball dorks instead of tennis dorks... Now, I'm not as well versed in KnB as I am with other manga and shows (I haven't even finished the manga or started the second season!) but I figured I may as well have this on here before I accidentally lose it.**

 **Thanks for reading, and please, tell me if I can improve on the characteristics/personalities of these basketball nerds we've all come to adore. :)**

* * *

"Home sweet home." Kagami Taiga stretched after the long plane ride from Toukyou.

"It must be good to be back in Los Angeles after so long." Kuroko Tetsuya mentioned as he stepped off the flight's gates, they were waiting for everyone to catch up from behind. Select members of Seirin, Touou, Kaijou, and Shuutoku had come along for a special Los Angeles event.

"Oi, Kagamicchi, we should go to the beach~!" Kise Ryouta brought his arms around Kuroko and Kagami, smiling brightly as a pair of girls walked by and giggled.

Midorima Shintarou was as disgusted as ever, "You never could concentrate, could you?"

His question came out more like a statement, and Takao Kazunari had to strip his eyes away from the same pair of girls so as not to look as bad as Kise at the moment.

"You're not here for the sights, we're here for the basketball exposition." Aida Riko pointed out to the teams, "Now, Kagami-kun, where's the representative of the exposition meeting with us?"

"E-eto..." Kagami suddenly looked as if he had nothing to do with the matter, and tried to look around as if he were innocent.

"...You didn't call them to meet with us, did you?"

"I-I didn't know that I was in charge of arranging that..."

" _BAKAGAMI!_ "

* * *

"Well then, it's good we got all that cleared up!" Riko cheerfully skipped along the baggage claim, not minding the fear coming from the teenage boys behind her. Kagami, on the other hand, pouted at the red hand mark on _both_ his cheeks.

"Riko-chan is scarier than I expected, Tetsu-kun." Momoi Satsuki whispered to her love.

Kuroko's monotonous answer began to scare the other players into thinking this was normal behavior, "Actually, she's gotten angrier about smaller things before this. I believe she went easy on Kagami-kun."

"Easy? She almost pulled my ear off at the end!"

"But it was your fault that we weren't able to meet the exposition representative on time."

"Kuroko!"

Nigou barked to agree with Kuroko, making Kagami jump back in fright, "W-what is Nigou doing in your bag?"

"I wanted to bring him along with us."

"Oi, Kagami, hurry up and update the representative, we don't want to be stuck in the airport forever." Hyuuga Junpei ordered.

Kagami nodded, "Aah, right."

 _'Though, I wouldn't be surprised if-'_

His phone beeped, and Kagami was surprised to read the text.

 **'Watch out.'**

"Taiga~!"

"Huh- oof!"

A girl with blonde, waist length pigtails waved and tackled Kagami from behind, latching onto him and wrapping her arms around his neck. She laughed with delight, and her childlike, blue eyes shone brightly down as she observed the Japanese players, "Hoouu~, so these are the Japanese players that pushed you to your limit!"

"Stephanie! Get off my back, dammit! Steph!" Kagami tried to pull her off, but she remained tightly clutching behind him, giggling all the while. A few blushes spread across the cheeks of a few of the boys, as they saw Stephanie's breasts push up against Kagami's back.

"Stephanie."

The girl's giggles stopped, and Kagami was an infinite amount of times calmer when they heard the authoritative voice. Stephanie slid off Kagami's back, and the two straightened their postures as another girl came into view. While Stephanie had somewhat childish, animated features, the blonde, blue eyed girl in front of them now was taller, more mature in looks, and much more serious.

"Konnichiwa." She greeted, "I apologize for my sister's behavior. My name is Natasha Garcia, it's nice to meet you."

"Yo, Nat." Kagami nodded in greeting.

"Garcia... ne, isn't that the same as that American basketball master that trained Kagami for the Winter Cup?" Koganei Shinji asked.

Kagami nodded, "Natasha and Stephanie are Alex's half sisters. Natasha is a year above my grade, Stephanie is in our grade."

"Kagami knows cute girls..." Moriyama Yoshitaka muttered, something to which Kasamatsu Yukio quickly kicked him in the head for. The sudden occurrence prompted both American girls to look in that direction, and Riko, in an attempt to keep civil, decided it was time to introduce themselves.

"Ah.. so..." Kagami went on to list off the names of each person present: Kuroko Tetsuya, Hyuuga Junpei, Kiyoshi Teppei, Izuki Shun, Kise Ryouta, Kasamatsu Yukio, Midorima Shintarou, Takao Kazunari, Aomine Daiki, Imayoshi Shoichi, Wakamatsu Kousuke, Sakurai Ryou, Aida Riko, and Momoi Satsuki.

Kagami's head was bashed in, yet again, by his senpai.

"What's up with that boring and lame introduction?!" Hyuuga yelled as he kicked.

"B-but senpai, introductions are usually straight forward!"

"So... why aren't everyone's whole teams here?" Stephanie asked innocently with her hands behind her back.

"Between you and I, none of our senpai wanted to handle a trip with Shin-chan by themselves." Takao joked, earning a hearty 'pat' on the back from the green haired basketball player. "Ittai!"

"Idiot."

"A-ano, only a select few were chosen for this exposition." Riko laughed off, _'Not to mention that some others couldn't afford it... or that it was so inconvenient a time...'_

Stephanie either entirely ignored, or was entirely unaware, of Riko's diminishing mood, and happily nodded, "Ah, okay then! Well, it's good Taiga managed to teach us some Japanese. But you all stand out in a crowd, so we could have spotted you anyway. We should go pick up the representative that's actually supposed to be here, though~"

"Ah, right," Kagami nodded, "Where are we supposed to meet?"

"Ano, you mean, you two aren't the basketball exposition representatives?" Kiyoshi asked.

Stephanie animatedly shook her head, but Natasha calmly replied, "Iie, we were the ones who had free time to pick you up. Last time we spoke, Kagami said he would give us the time. When he called today it took us all by surprise, and by that time your real representative was busy."

"..." Kagami stopped scratching the back of his head, and a wide grin spread upon his face when he heard that news, "Then that should mean... che, it's time to see how much improvement's happened over the years."

"You can't possibly think about playing basketball right now, can you?" Natasha asked.

"We're basketball players, Nat, we play whenever we can." Kagami grinned.

Natasha sighed, "Then I suppose we can head on over to the street courts to meet up."

"Yatta! We get to see Taiga play again!" Stephanie laughed, hitching a ride on Kagami's back once more.

"S-Stephanie!"

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters/plot, etc. of the KnB anime/manga.**


	2. Back to the Streets

**A/N: Hello all! I just wanted to point out that in my haste to publish this story on the site, I had accidentally overlooked the fact that some of the minor characters mentioned in the first chapter aren't actually in the story (as of yet is to be determined). The only characters so far are the ones that had been "introduced" by Kagami.**

 **Please forgive my mistake!**

* * *

"Hontouni?!" Stephanie asked, she sat upright in her seat on the bus, and rather than face forward she faced backwards. The "Japanese players" (as Stephanie had just so aptly grouped them as) had stepped onto a bus that Stephanie and Natasha were using to pick them up in, courtesy of the tournament.

Kagami laughed and grinned, elbowing Kuroko playfully to get his teammate to agree, "Hell yeah! Kuroko's passes can't be caught by just anyone!"

"So... this Generation of Miracles then..." Natasha pursed her lips in thought.. she glanced over at Kuroko, Kise, Midorima, and Aomine, "How do they compare?"

Kagami's silent grin made Stephanie gasp in surprise.

"Uso!"

"Stephanie, please behave." Natasha tried to calm her sister down.

"But, Natasha~ if Taiga met a bunch of players that challenged him then maybe that means he could finally defeat Mitch!"

"Defeat... Mitch?" Izuki asked, forming a polite smile in curiosity, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kagami didn't realize that Stephanie's excitement could be heard throughout the whole bus, but didn't mind as he explained.

"Before I left for America I grew up playing with Himuro and a bunch of other kids. Mitch was someone that played evenly with me and Himuro."

"Except for when you came for that break to train with Alex, then you just lost completely." Stephanie shrugged.

Kagami argued about that immediately, "That's not true!"

"Based on the amount of games you two played together, you won half of them." Natasha added.

Kagami felt his pride get thrown out the window as his comrades snickered. They all knew Kagami was competitive, and losing, to Kagami, was almost paralyzing (though he'd learned how to cope over the year). After a few moments though, they realized that whoever this person was, they stood on even grounds with Kagami.

"So the basketball player revolves his life around other basketball players, men are so boring." Riko sighed from a row behind Kagami and Kuroko.

Momoi nodded to the girl sitting in the row beside her, "As predictable as they are great players."

"Mitch and Taiga are long lasting rivals, even when Himuro stopped playing with Kagami, Mitch always went against Taiga. And since Taiga says that you guys are even tougher opponents... We'll see how Mitch reacts~" Stephanie giggled happily to herself as the bus came to a stop in front of a beach.

"Oh~ California bikini babes!" Takao goggled outside the window.

Even Aomine glanced out the window when some particularly bouncy breasts walked past the bus.

"Dai-chan!" Momoi scolded.

Aomine shrugged and stood up, letting Momoi pass him by so she could walk off the bus first.

"Aominecchi is already taking looks at some girls." Kise teased. His chuckle was short lived as Midorima's duffel bag hit him over the head, "Ow! Midorimacchi, that really hurt!"

"Serves you right."

"Shin-chan, I don't think you even need to take your things down, we're only here to pick someone up."

"Oha-Asa's horoscope mentioned that I should keep my belongings close today."

"Right, right... How could I forget..."

As soon as they all stepped off the bus, they were suddenly overwhelmed with the bustling activity coming from the beach and the areas surrounding the beach.

"The basketball courts are over to the-" For the first time since they'd met Stephanie, they saw her frown, "I guess they've been beat already..."

Her frown was directed at the figure headed towards the group. A navy blue, sleeveless hoodie hid the face, but they could see long, braided black hair poking out. A long, slender arm pulled the hoodie back, showing the sweat falling down her forehead and the small smirk on her face.

"Michi-Michi! Look at who's here!" Stephanie waved enthusiastically.

"Hey! You shoulda been here fifteen minutes earlier, we could've played two-on-two against Alex!" She grinned and pointed behind her to the basketball courts, where only Alex and a couple other men stood, albeit panting and covered in sweat, while the rest were sitting on the court or lying down.

"Still playing in street matches, I see." Kagami retorted as he and the girl fist bumped in greeting.

"I wouldn't dream of slacking if it meant losing to you." Mitch stuck her hand down Kagami's duffel bag, brought out a soda she knew he would have in there, and flipped the tab open so she could take a quick swig as she smiled brightly at everyone and waved, "I'll wait on the bus. You should talk to Alex about the forms for the expo."

"Mitch is a _she_?!"

The girl winked one of her bright hazel eyes at the group, "What, can't believe that Taiga can talk to girls?"

"I can talk to girls!"

Mitch started laughing, "Maybe after winning a game, but after that they'll see you for the dunce you are, _Bakagami_."

"Who told you-!"

"Whoops..." Stephanie blinked when she realized the information she had heard over the phone was now being used against Kagami.

"Stephanie!"

"Gomen'ne~"

" _Michi-Michi_? You called her Mitch on the bus! I thought that was a guy's name!" Hyuuga exclaimed.

Stephanie smiled, and the innocent smile she emit told them just how sneaky she could be, "That's because you didn't know she was a girl yet! Isn't it more fun now that you know who Michi-Michi is?"

"Is that Taiga?" A voice in English piped up with excitement, Kagami almost rolled his eyes if he wasn't so fond of his American basketball coach.

Alexandra Garcia came running down towards him, her arms outstretched and emphasizing the large breasts she had as she squished him in her embrace.

"G-cups..." Aomine was quick to deduce the size.

 _'It's not fair that he gets to be in such close quarters with those things!'_ The boys thought as they watched Kagami try to break away from Alex.

"Perverts!" Riko exclaimed.

Momoi pouted and placed a hand on her hip, "Those are even bigger than mine..."

"You should play a game with Michelle, it would be for old times' sake! Oh, and you two would get so angry when you lost..." Alex excitedly exclaimed with nostalgic memory.

Mitch's eye twitched, and she threw her empty soda can at Alex's head, "Oi, old hag! Stop acting like I didn't just win a couple seconds ago!"

"Who're you calling old hag?!" Alex's blue eyes narrowed at Mitch when she dodged the can, who challenged her readily.

"Your movements are about as sloppy as Taiga's now, I can only assume it's cause of old age!" Mitch retorted.

"Hey!" Kagami protested at his own skills being questioned.

Mitch smirked, "What, am I wrong?"

"I could beat you right now!"

"You couldn't beat me if I gave you a twenty point handicap in a game of twenty-five!"

"Liar!"

"Ba~ka!" Mitch rolled her eyes and waved Alex off, "Go get the forms, old hag, so Taiga and I can settle our score once and for all."

"I already beat Tatsuya." Kagami said cockily, "You've still got a lot of opponents before you get to me."

"Ma, ma, Taiga." Alex ruffled Kagami's hair and smiled, "Michelle beat Tatsuya when he came back to the States after Winter Cup."

"I said it once and I'll say it again," Mitch knocked her fist against Kagami's chest, "You couldn't beat me if I gave you a handicap."

"You're so on." He accepted the challenge and tossed his bag aside, only to be pulled back by Riko, "Ow!"

"Did you forget what we were originally here for?" She asked angrily.

"B-but, coach, she-"

"Oh, right... I'm the representative you're meeting right?" Mitch asked, "You all need to finish the forms. I've got Taiga's information, I just need all yours. By the time you guys are done, Taiga and I should be done too."

"You're too cocky now that I've been gone." Kagami muttered.

Mitch shrugged, winking at him, "You're too lame now that you've moved away, I guess life isn't fair to you."

"Forget manners, I get first shot!" Kagami was getting fired up again, ignoring the others completely as he and Mitch stared each other down.

"Hey, losers first, I don't mind." Mitch grinned, catching the ball that Alex had tossed.

Alex sighed as she, Natasha and Stephanie handed out the forms to the Japanese players in a grassy area of the beach, located farther from the beach courts, "I'm so glad my two little children get to play again!"

"Alex, I don't think anyone else is ready for that one-on-one..." Natasha's sigh was much more exasperated than Alex's, but she sat down on a bench beside Riko anyway.

Stephanie happily giggled as she handed out the last of the forms, "Taiga's just happy he gets to play with his little sister!"


	3. Sibling Rivalry

**A/N: Whelp, my body finally said NOPE and made me sick so I wouldn't have to do any school or work... Might as well just post another chapter, yea? lol...**

 **To milefanis-cullen: I'm sorry! I don't speak Spanish, so I kinda used Google Translate... However, I'm glad you enjoy the story! :) **

* * *

"Imouto?!" Seirin exclaimed, "That's his sister?!"

"Iie," Natasha shook her head, and shot a quick, narrowed eyed glare at the giggling Steph, "Like Tatsuya, they're just close like family. Michelle doesn't have anyone else like Taiga."

The players were a bit reserved in their thoughts about the match though. Kagami was far more evolved than he had been when he was last in America, so he was much better than anyone of his old friends remembered him as. That, and Mitch couldn't possibly have the strength to outdo Kagami, no matter how good she might think she was.

"Boys always look like they have the upper hand in basketball, but girls know how to play just as well." Alex seemed to be reading their thoughts as they finished up filling out the last of the information. It had taken them all but half an hour to complete.

"Alex!" Two men ran from the beach courts to where the group sat on the grass, panting heavily, "You didn't tell us Taiga was back!"

"Yeah, and he's just as good as he was before, isn't he?" Alex replied back in English with pride.

"But he and Michelle- they-"

"BAKAGAMI."

"LOSER MICHELLE."

"IDIOT!"

"STUPID!"

"YOU ASSHAT, WHO BREAKS THE HOOP?!"

"WHO USES THAT KIND OF TRICK?!"

"BAKAGAMI!"

"YOU ALREADY SAID THAT!"

Kagami swat away Mitch's yells, as if that would get her to stop hitting his arm as they approached the group.

"Apologize!" She insisted.

"Sorry..." Kagami rubbed the back of his head and smiled nervously at the two men, "I can help pay it off..."

"You're such a loser." Michelle muttered under her breath in Japanese so the men wouldn't understand.

Kagami heatedly replied in hushed Japanese as well, "I didn't lose!"

The two players were surprised to feel their ears being pulled at, and Alex sweetly smiled at the two men, jumping up if only to distract them with her breasts. Which absolutely worked. Michelle rolled her eyes.

"Old hag..." She muttered, she winced when Alex pulled against her ear harder, "Ow!"

"The _both_ of them will pay off the repairs. " Alex let the two go, pushing them to the floor as the two men decided that was that and walked away.

"But he's the one who broke the hoop!" Michelle pointed, still speaking Japanese.

"You loosened the damn thing with that weird ass trick of yours!" Kagami pointed back.

She stuck her tongue out at him childishly, and Kagami ground his teeth together, "I could crush you if I wanted!"

"You can't even touch me! We proved that on the court!" She laughed.

"Please forgive their attitude." Natasha sighed again, apologizing to Kagami's friends for the umpteenth time that day, it seemed.

"Hou~ Arigato!" Stephanie thanked Kuroko for the soda, and after shaking it she immediately pointed it at the two and opened the can. Grape soda spurt out at them and their angry glares soon turned on the childish blonde.

"Hey!" They both exclaimed.

"Bakagami, Michi-Michi, it's time to play nice~" Stephanie nodded, acting as if she were unaware of their directed anger, "Taiga's friends are finished filling out the forms."

"We're also curious as to how your match went." Kuroko added.

While Kagami's glare worsened, Michelle's soon faded as it turned into a triumphant smirk.

"That doesn't count!"

"You're only saying that cause I was winning!" Michelle rolled her eyes.

"You were about to lose!"

"Oh please, it's your fault we can't continue."

"..."

"..."

After staring each other down for little more than two seconds, they both turned to face Kuroko, "It was a tie." They both conceded.

Alex chuckled, "Ah, my two prodigies are fighting against each other. Tatsuya already said Taiga would be number one, Michelle."

"Tatsuya doesn't know shit." Mitch spat out, "And Taiga was never good at hiding his weak spots."

"Why I oughtta-"

"Ahem."

"We're here, you know..." Izuki waved at the two.

The pair's dynamic was ultimately sibling arguing at it's fullest, and as such it filled the air with their banter and conversation, leaving little for everyone else to do but listen. Michelle sighed, finally calming down enough to give everyone a friendly smile.

"Right... Well then, as the American girl's representative of the Los Angeles International Basketball Exposition, I officially welcome you to the states!"

"You're finally-"

"Except for you." Michelle interrupted Kagami, "You're not welcome."

"Hey!"

Michelle started laughing at his glare, and leaned back against the grass as she scanned the forms that Riko and Momoi had organized.

"It's unfortunate that the five teams we wanted couldn't all come." Michelle shrugged, "But then again, organization mishaps always occur when we've just begun this type of expo. Next year we'll have properly invited the five top teams."

"How does this exposition work, exactly?" Riko asked.

Michelle pouted and looked up in thought. After forming the thoughts in her head correctly she went back to skimming the forms, "Well, I suppose you can think of it as a practice tournament. This hasn't really happened anywhere, so we're still working out the kinks. The idea is that sometime this year we invite the top highschool teams of different nations to get together and essentially have practice games in the form of a tournament. I know we have international basketball championships, but we thought it'd be nice to have expositions before that.

Also, there are special games we've planned out where players of different teams can team up together and play, to encourage fellowship and sportsmanship. The point is to demonstrate to everyone the skills a nation or player has. It increases publicity for players and even nations as a whole, and it gives you guys a chance to see who could potentially be on your nation's team for the real international championship."

"So we play against different nations with our own teams." Kise nodded in understanding, Michelle was warily looking at his statistics, noting how powerful he and Midorima already seemed.

Takao was internally panicking, only he and Midorima had shown up from Shuutoku! How in the hell were they supposed to play? Michelle had sensed Takao's uncertainty.

"Like I said, we're working out kinks. We gathered around fifteen to twenty members of national ranking teams, and we've figured that if we can use the free team format and make different teams out of the players we have, we can still have a tournament. Teams will mesh together or be subs for each other, or we can have two nations playing at the same time against two other nations."

"I'm not entirely sure how you didn't even manage to recruit Rakuzan or Yousen members, they ranked higher than Shuutoku and Touou this year." Momoi stated with curiosity.

"We attempted to contact them..." Natasha began to explain, stepping in for Michelle when she paused at Kuroko's... they seemed average for someone who had participated in all the matches of the winning national team, "Rakuzan mentioned that they were busy training for the real international championships, and Yousen said they couldn't convince one of their aces to come along and that Tatsuya didn't really care either way."

"That sounds just like Murasakibara-kun." Kuroko nodded.

"Either way, you'll be here for a good part of the summer-" Michelle stopped when she saw one that was all too suspicious, "Aomine Daiki..."

"Huh?" Aomine's head lazily lifted up from the ground, and he found that Michelle's hazel eyes were staring at him once he answered.

 _'His stats are way too high for him to be in Taiga's grade, his and those two others..._ _ **Taiga's**_ _stats are too high for him to be in his own grade... And Taiga can keep up with this guy? No, he **beat** this guy?"_

She looked over at Kagami, "Who the hell have you been playing basketball with?"

Kagami grinned, "I told you Japan has good players."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Michelle slipped the form back into the pile with a content, lopsided smile, and decided she'd see the truth later on. _'At least this'll be more interesting than I thought.'_

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime**


	4. Checking In

**A/N: So at work today I just found out that there's a national high school basketball tournament going on, and that it's the only two weeks that colleges can "recruit" high school players, or at least start looking into them to begin offering scholarships INTERNATIONALLY. These parents I were talking to while ringing up their clothes talked to me about how colleges and universities from Germany, Japan, Korea, and so on and so forth came over to this specific tournament to look at the high school boys playing in the tournament...**

 **The ideas I now have for where this story is gonna go ARE ENDLESS!**

* * *

"Don't think we're slacking off on training." Riko announced to Seirin on the bus, "As soon as we've unpacked at the hotel I have a regimen I'd like to update you all on."

"Aw, can't we go around and look at the city? When in America, do as Americans do!" Izuki looked out the windows of the bus.

"That's Rome you moron!"

"If you'd like to take a look at the city..." Riko could think of numerous training exercises, and when the team noticed this they panicked.

"Forget it!" "Izuki didn't mean it!" "I'm sure Izuki was joking, Riko."

Michelle pulled her hoodie over her face and slunk down further in her seat, only to be elbowed by Stephanie.

"So how did that match _really_ go?" The bubbly tone hid the underlying sense of importance that Stephanie had meant to convey. It was usual for that to happen with the girl. Stephanie was rather bubbly and bouncy, and cheerful to the point where naïveté was just expected of her. Mitch knew that was far from the truth.

"Kagami broke the hoop thinking he could slam dunk his way to victory." She shrugged.

"And that trick he kept mentioning, was that your super ultra-"

"I used that double-dunk thing we talked about."

"Ohh, _that_ little trick."

"HA! So you admit you tricked me!" Kagami jumped over his seat and pulled Michelle's hood up, pulling her up from her seat as well, "You tricky little cheater!"

"It's not cheating if you're dumb enough to fall for it." She argued, pulling her hoodie back so she could rest. She was known to be cranky when tired.

Kagami pondered her words, and realized she was right. What Mitch had done was perfectly legal in street matches _and_ official games. In some ways, that little trick had reminded him of Kuroko's disappearing shot. It was Mitch's turn to go on the offense, and after checking the ball to Kagami she started dribbling, handling the ball like a pro- like she always had been. That is, until Kagami had suddenly lost track of which path the ball was going, she had faked her way past him, her form taking on that of a dunk. But Kagami knew as well as she did that he could very well block the shot. He jumped up, and for some reason when he blocked he had missed. And just like that the ball had reappeared into Mitch's hands, and she barely dunked the ball into the basket before landing.

"I still have to work on my vertical height." She muttered.

While she had noticed all of Kagami's flaws, she had also noticed her own. And that was something she hated- something she always hated.

They pulled up to the hotel, and after Michelle had taken care of checking into the rooms and getting everything in line she brought out a clipboard from her bag, "There are two beds to a room, as soon as you've picked a room I'd appreciate it if you signed out which room you'd taken. You'll be taking up the 11th floor. Natasha, Steph and I will also be rooming on that floor. A majority of this hotel has been taken up by the expo, and each nation has their own floor. There are still a few nations that have yet to arrive, so you won't be able to see them all at the opening ceremony tomorrow."

Everyone had noticed how basketball players were roaming the hotel, whether to check in or sit around at the lounge or cafe inside the lounge. Even the restaurant was bustling with activity of basketball players. All nationally ranked, all powerful looking. The sight of it was enough to stir up competitive emotions.

"D-did you see how tall that guy was?!" Wakamatsu asked, motioning to a German player that looked as tall as Murisakibara.

Riko's mind was overflowing with numbers and statistics as different players passed by, and she frowned.

"My regimen... I'll have to upgrade it so we can achieve the numbers I'd like."

Momoi agreed, clipboard in hand and pen tucked behind her ear, "There are so many players with information and data to acquire!"

Michelle's brow rose, "They're not jetlagged?"

Natasha shrugged, "Honestly, I didn't expect anyone to want to even consider playing basketball hours after a day long flight. Taiga proved me wrong, so I'm not surprised his friends have proved us wrong on assumptions either."

"Either way, I need a shower." Michelle shrugged, she left the clipboard she had with Kuroko, and walked towards the elevator, "The key cards are on the clipboard. Don't forget to mark who's who in the rooms. Everyone needs to be accounted for."

 _'I'm sticky with sweat and that damned grape soda...'_ Michelle thought to herself with a frown, _'But I'm seriously itching to see how these guys actually play.'_

On the elevator, once she had an after thought to the day's events so far, Michelle smirked.

"Interesting already seems like an understatement."

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime**


	5. Settled In

The doors to the rooms were open on the eleventh floor, save for the main suite that was located at the end of the hall. It was the biggest suite, and as such it was one of the nicest. The rest of the floor was occupied by smaller suites, each with it's own bathroom, two beds, a TV and a minifridge, as well as the other accommodations that a hotel room could offer. The main suite was occupied by Michelle, Natasha and Steph. When realizing how big the suite actually was, Steph had easily invited Riko and Momoi to use their room as well. Momoi was eager to accept the invitation, and Riko hesitant.

Riko found herself sitting on her bed in the main suite, hearing Michelle's shower end as Momoi insisted that they call her Satsuki.

"You haven't had a lot of friends that are girls, have you?" Stephanie giggled. So far, she and Satsuki were the two that got along the easiest.

Satsuki shook her head with a small frown, "Not many girls liked me in middle school, and not many of them talk to me now..."

"Hmm, well that's a shame. You and Riko-chan seem like really cool people! I'm sure you two don't interact with girls all that much because of how involved you are with the guy's basketball teams." Stephanie smiled cheerily.

Michelle came out, throwing her towel on the ground in a corner as she was dressed in some black short spandex and a camisole.

"You two are probably the backbone of the teams, anyhow." Michelle shrugged as she sat on her own bed.

Through the urging of Stephanie and Satsuki, the girls had pushed all their beds to the middle of the living room, that way they could all interact more. The room itself had shocked everyone. After opening the double doors to the suite, there was a living room and dining room in the middle, while on the left there was a room that fit three beds and on the right another that fit three more beds. That left the main bedroom in the back of the suite. A King sized bed was there, with it's own master bath and balcony to boot. After rearranging almost all the furniture, Stephanie and Satsuki were content with the five single beds angled so that it formed a circle.

"Mhm, Riko-chan is the coach of Seirin, and daughter of a personal sports trainer. I take down the data and analyze it into useful information for Touou." Satsuki replied to Michelle's observation.

"You seem to understand and play basketball a lot better than most people, Michelle-san." Riko stated.

Michelle shrugged, "I've grown up with Tatsuya, Alex, and Taiga. Basketball comes naturally to me. And... Please, don't use san with me, it's too formal." Michelle tried to say as politely as she could.

"Ah, demo, Natasha-chan and Stephie-chan are Alex's sisters! You two surely know how to play basketball as well, ne?" Satsuki asked.

Natasha nodded, and Stephanie was much more eager to talk about her knowledge.

"Michi-Michi, nee-chan and I are actually part of our girl's basketball team!" Stephanie piped up, "We're nationally ranked, too!"

"Nationally ranked? That's great!"

Stephanie nodded excitedly, "We came on top for the second time already! This year we're getting ready to take it a third time!"

 _'Second year...'_ Riko and Satsuki were suddenly wary of Stephanie's carefree attitude. They weren't sure how different basketball was for different countries, let alone different genders, but to be the nation's number one for 2 years, as well as in a high school competition? That was entirely intimidating.

"Michi-Michi and nee-chan always get placed onto our American team for international competitions." Stephanie added as Michelle grabbed a water out of her bag.

Riko nodded in thought. That would explain how Michelle could keep up with Kagami. It also explained why the girl's numbers (that Riko analyzed) could compete with more than half the boys in the hotel.

"That training regimen you had, Riko-chan, did you make it by yourself?" Michelle asked.

Riko nodded.

"You should start training all the teams of Japan together," Michelle advised, "You and Satsuki-chan could be a deadly force behind Japan if you teamed up. Plus, it'll develop the teamwork skills of each team and make your lineups for the tournament easier."

"Oh right, I forgot that only two members of Shutoku and two members of Kaijou are here. That means they need a team to play with as well. Most of Seirin's lineup is here, as well as four members of Touou." Satsuki nodded.

"We'll need to merge our data together then, Momoi-chan." Riko began to shift her attention towards the notes that Satsuki brought out, and as such brought out her own notebook as well.

"Looks like we've got them started on something." Michelle chuckled, "I'm heading downstairs."

A passive wave and nod came from Satsuki and Riko, while Stephanie observed the information and Natasha nodded, TV remote in hand as she flipped through channels. Michelle grabbed a light jacket and headed to the elevator. A part of her wanted to knock on Kagami's door so they could finish their one-on-one match, yet another told her that she should wait to see what Kagami's full potential was.

"He's riled up about your match today."

Michelle smirked as she pressed the button on the elevator to the lobby, "He shou-" Michelle jumped back and yelped in surprise, "Gah! How long have you been in here?!"

Kuroko blinked at her blankly, and Nigou barked in his arms, "For a while. I held the door for you."

"O-oh... Sorry, I didn't notice you there..." Michelle regained some composure, _'What the heck is up with this guy?'_

"You must be skilled at basketball to be able to compete with Kagami-kun, especially now." Nigou seemed to bark in agreement to Kuroko's statement.

Michelle pouted, "Are you saying that because I'm a girl, or because Taiga is just that good?"

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised that a girl could keep up with Kagami-kun," Kuroko pondered, "But, that's only because Kagami-kun can go toe to toe with Aomine-kun. People call those two monsters when it comes to basketball, and physically not a lot of men can keep up with them."

"Girls can be just as physically fit!" Mitch argued, glaring at him.

Kuroko nodded, "That's true, I suppose then I think it's amazing that you're that skilled at basketball."

The elevator doors opened onto the lobby, and Michelle looked around. Basketball players were already using the hotel gym and the pool, and no doubt were using the hotel sports gym.

"Hey, Kuroko-kun," Michelle was still trying to get used to using honorifics in her Japanese, and turned to the boy standing next to her, "There's a street court not far from here. Care to join me?"

Kuroko nodded, and the two made their way out of the hotel.

"What were you planning on doing if I hadn't invited you to play?" Michelle wondered as they walked down the street.

"I was just planning on taking a walk. I've never been to America before."

As the two walked down the street and conversed, Natasha closed the window curtains of the hotel. She had seen them walking out, and also noted the direction they were headed.

 _'She complains that all these guys think about is basketball, when she plays just as much as them.'_ Natasha mused.

"Tomorrow, Mitch can take you all to the arena you'll be playing in."

"That'll be great! We can get everyone's data there now, and it makes it much easier to spot who could become a problem for us." Satsuki said, "Right, Riko-chan?"

Riko nodded, "Hai, the players must be anxious to play, so we can see some in action too."

And that reason was why Natasha resigned herself to her bed, knowing fully well just how much Riko and Satsuki would see the next day.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime**


	6. Welcoming Ceremony

"What's up with your bed head, Kurokocchi?" Kise asked when they all went downstairs to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast.

"I didn't sleep for very long." Kuroko replied somberly, he pat his head down to keep the stray hairs in place.

Japan was lucky enough to take the one long table that was spread out for the party of 20, and they tiredly chatted or ate their fill.

Kagami started on his fourth plate, "I fell asleep around midnight and you still weren't back."

Kuroko glanced at the end of the table where the girls sat, before turning to his own food, "Michelle-chan asked if I'd like to play basketball with her."

"So, did you two have a good game?" Kise asked.

"Michelle-chan and I played against some people on the court. I wasn't very surprised at how good she was since she can go toe-to-toe with Kagami-kun, just that she reminded me of someone."

Kise smirked at the prospect of yet another new challenger, "Yeah, who could Kurokocchi be thinking of?"

"She reminds me of-"

Before Kuroko could say, Riko squeezed her way through the table. She wasn't surprised to find that Kuroko sat close to Kagami, Kise, and Aomine, and by extension that meant Kasamatsu and Sakurai were there as well.

"Kagami, what type of player is Michelle-chan?" She asked.

"Eh... I'm not sure anymore. All rounder?" Kagami guessed as he moved onto his seventh plate of food, "She's a good point guard but better as a power forward."

"Power forward?"

"That makes sense with how we played last night."

Riko turned to the other half of her miracle duo, "That's where Michelle-chan went last night? To play basketball? What did she do?"

"Ne, kantoku, aren't you supposed to coach the boy's team? Not the girl's?" Kagami asked.

"Momoi-chan can't find any tangible data on Michelle-chan. And while Natasha-chan's numbers are above average and Stephanie-chan's just a bit above normal, Michelle-chan's numbers compete with over half the players here. But it's Natasha-chan and Stephanie-chan that have the most data."

The mysteriousness of Michelle's play left Riko feeling uneasy. That is, until she felt Kiyoshi pat her on the head, "Riko, Stephanie-chan said that we should head onto the bus, let's go!"

"Eh, but I was-" Kiyoshi had already grabbed her arm, taking her onto the bus with Hyuuga and the rest of Seirin in tow, "Teppei!"

Stephanie skipped behind the group, "Michi-Michi went ahead, since she and nee-chan need to prepare and all. But we'll see them there!"

* * *

"Why do we have to do this?" Michelle asked Natasha in the arena's locker room.

Natasha pulled her long blonde hair into a ponytail, and tossed a basketball at Michelle, "Because we do."

"No, because our guys' team purposely scheduled games overseas the week the expo began." Michelle mumbled under her breath.

"I read over our introduction; they said we held the national title for two consecutive years, and that you two were hosts to the whole ceremony." Stephanie skipped in with a giggle.

"We're not hosts!" Michelle stood up, "I didn't sign up for that!"

Natasha rolled her eyes, "She's joking, Mitch. They introduced us and said that the American men's team is going to arrive in another week and a half."

"But you will have to show us a few moves when we're introduced~" Steph said.

"No."

Steph grunted as Mitch chucked the ball into the younger blonde's arms, and followed Natasha out as they stepped towards the announcers, sitting on the stools provided.

"Shouldn't we have been here _during_ the announcement?" Michelle asked quietly.

Truthfully, she was more nervous than she oughtta be. Whenever people had eyes on her it was when she played basketball and she didn't need to think about who was watching; when she wasn't playing, she'd rather not be looked at.

Natasha handled things like publicity much better, and quickly pointed her glance at her younger sister, who's smile was ultimately cheerful and innocent looking.

"Steph called us out late."

"Little shit..." Michelle growled under her breath at Stephanie.

"The mic almost caught you~" Steph giggled.

Michelle glared, and crossed her arms as Stephanie waved and took the microphone.

"We're happy to stand in the place of our comrades as they play overseas, let's all have a good time!"

Translations in different languages echoed throughout the arena, and Michelle was just starting to see how big this whole event was. Teams from different nations filled the seats of the arena, and supporters crowded around and in the stairs even. And this was the biggest arena out of the whole area. Three different buildings surrounded the main one, and would help ease the traffic of the event while allowing for more games to be played.

"This is pointless." Michelle shuffled under the lights uncomfortably, though tried to put herself out there as indifferent, much to Natasha and Stephanie's amusement.

"You're just angry that you can hear Taiga laughing." Natasha smiled, and they really could hear Kagami's bellowing laugh from the front row.

Michelle twitched and glared his way, trying not to seem too off to other people, "I'm gonna kill him as soon as we get to leave."

"Honestly, I'm not sure how long this ceremony is." Natasha hid her frown quite well, but she couldn't hide it well enough when Stephanie fidgeted due to boredom.

"Stephanie..." Natasha warned, "Don't."

"What? I didn't do anything!" Stephanie whispered, playing with the official game ball in her hands, one of hundreds that were stored in the back.

"Don't do anything that'll make me regret being friends with you." Mitch warned as well.

"I would never."

"Liar."

"Shush." Natasha ended the conversation early as the administrators ended the ceremony, finishing up their announcements.

"And to end this opening ceremony, we've allowed there to be a certain rule. Challenging the American representative team and winning will allow you to move towards the semi-finals automatically!"

Natasha and Mitch were both taken by surprise, so much so that even the spectators realized that this wasn't what they had intended. The two girls immediately glared at the youngest of the three, who giggled appreciatively and nodded. It was clear she was the only one who knew beforehand.

"Were you two not informed?" The administrator put a hand on the mic to keep from being heard.

Mitch shook her head immediately, while Natasha tried to go about it in a calmer manner.

"We didn't realize that we'd raised the stakes that high."

"Well, we originally had this rule for when the men's team was supposed to be here. We didn't think you girls would have to play, if you don't-"

Mitch's eyes narrowed, and her unsure demeanor had changed to that of a formidable opponent, "I'll play."

"Michelle-"

"I don't like being underestimated." Mitch stood up from the seat, "And I'll take on anyone who thinks they can beat me."

The administrator was wary about her acceptance, because he was wondering how many teams were going to end up in the semi finals because of the rule. Not many teams seemed to be taking it seriously, and as spectators and teams alike began to leave, Michelle and Natasha had rounded up on Stephanie.

"You did that on purpose!" Michelle yelled at her angrily from her seat.

Stephanie held the ball out to Michelle, "But everyone was gonna underestimate us unless we did something to make them take us seriously!"

"That doesn't mean you can go around changing rules," Natasha lectured, she hadn't noticed the figures behind her approaching, "And furthermore, how would we even play against a team of five when there's only three of us present?"

"That's what we were about to ask."

A tall boy hovered over the three girls, with four equally as tall, and muscular, boys behind him. Michelle saw that they were the first string Swedish team.

"We want to know if we can take advantage of that rule right now." He said, smirking because Stephanie literally had to crane her head up just to look at his face.

Michelle glared, " _Take advantage?_ "

"Well it's not a fair rule to you girls, but we'd like to advance as soon as possible so we can get well known."

Mitch's jaw locked as Natasha's eyes began to flash with a sense of understanding at the situation. Not only were they underestimating her abilities, and Mitch's, and her sister's, they were underestimating just how easy the matches ahead were going to be. Natasha never liked anyone who underestimated her before she had a chance to play.

Neither did Mitch.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime.**


	7. USA (Women) v Sweden (Men)

Kagami and his friends sensed the hostility as they watched from their spots in the front row.

"Three against five seems hardly fair, we can set up a handicap if you like." The Swedish captain offered. His politeness was overbearingly arrogant.

Mitch smiled just as sweetly, and dragged the stool she was sitting on till it stood at the top of the key, where the three point line and the key overlapped. The sound of metal scraping the court caught people's attention, and Kise looked around to see many people sitting back down.

"This could be interesting." He smiled.

Mitch's own sweet smile turned to a challenging snarl, "Here's the handicap you asked for."

"What's that supposed to be?"

"Ah! The way this works is whoever gets to 30 first wins!" Stephanie happily interjected as Mitch sat down on the seat, facing the basket in front of her, "We get to start all the time, but only because she'll keep at least a part of her body on the stool the whole time, and that's if she decides she wants to not sit anymore!"

"You can't be serious." The Swedish captain looked back at his teammates, who highly doubted the girl's ability to beat them, and that was standing up. Sitting down? Well, an easy victory is an easy victory.

They agreed, and Kiyoshi looked over to his kouhai.

"Oh, Kagami, did you say how good they are?"

"What they're doing is insane." Kagami was just as bewildered as his friends and the spectators.

Stephanie dutifully covered the left of Mitch, and Natasha the right. The three of them were clearly at a disadvantage against five, but were even more so at a disadvantage because the wingspan of each man could practically guard two zones at a time. That, and the boys had height, while Stephanie barely got up to Kuroko's shoulder and Mitch was stuck to a chair.

Her challenged look never wavered as the captain stepped in front of her, smirking and bouncing the ball lightly at her.

"Let's have-"

The ball left Mitch's hands just as soon as she held it, and the swish of a net prompted him to turn around to where the spectator's gazes were directed.

"Three to zero." Mitch brought her arms down, and looked up at the captain with a cocky grin, "Let's have a good match."

"I'm not so worried anymore." Kagami shrugged his shoulders, his grin mimicking Mitch's.

She bounced the ball on her right side, it's rhythmic bounce slow and purposeful as she examined the court.

 _Thump...thump...thump...thump..._

Stephanie and Natasha were standing in their places at the sides, testing how the Swedish team reacted to their movements.

Mitch smirked, and began dribbling faster.

 _Thump, thump, thump, thump..._

She crossed the ball over to her other hand, dribbling the ball under the stool as it transferred from left hand to right, and the ball's bounces became almost undiscernible.

"Michelle-chan's ball handling is around the same level as Hayama-san's," Kuroko said, "But she reminds me of a cross between Kagami-kun and myself."

The ball had suddenly become an orange blur as she dribbled, head still facing forward but arms shifting as she smirked.

 _Th-th-thump-th-th-thump-th-th-thump-th-th-thump-_

The captain of the Swedish team wanted to wipe that smirk off her face. Was her smirk just pressuring him into hyper-focusing, or was the ball getting even faster?

 _Th-th-th-thump-th-th-th-thump-th-th-th-thump-_

"Captain!"

He had been concentrating on the ball and on Mitch's unreal dribbling so much that he didn't realize Natasha had run behind and the ball had somehow gotten into her hands.

"Six to zero." Mitch counted. She grunted when the captain bounced the ball to her with more force than necessary. They'd gotten the idea quick enough and knew that the effort they'd need to exert was more than just standing around guarding some girls.

But Mitch's dribbling was throwing them all off. She was too fast for the Swedish captain to steal the ball from her, though it should have been easy. Reaching out to intercept was impossible when Mitch kept the ball low to the ground and dribbled under the stool or behind her, even then he could only see the ball in a blur before realizing that Mitch had already passed the ball.

"She's improved." Kagami nodded, a grin plastering his face as he saw his friend play. Her improvement was much more apparent now that he was watching as an outsider.

Five more blurred passes, five more sudden three pointers, and the score was 21-0.

Mitch smirked, and her head cocked to the side when she saw that instead of just the one man guarding her, she now had three.

"Like that would stop us." She grinned, happy at the challenge coming her way. The pace of her dribbling increased as she crossed over under the stool, unable to dribble behind or in front of her, or even at her sides as the three Swedish members were ready to steal the ball.

"Michi-Michi!" Stephanie waved with her right hand.

Mitch could only glance before she felt a swipe from her right. She rolled her eyes at the Swedish captain's grin after he made a three pointer.

"21-3." He noted.

Mitch caught the ball from him, and felt the pressure increase immediately as the three opponents crowded around her. They were able to take the ball and shut her down, taking another five points.

"Charity points are better than no points, right?" Mitch asked Natasha.

Natasha shook her head, "Behave, Michelle."

"Yeah, yeah... Fine."

"Who are you to talk? A little pressure and all of a sudden your specialty is shut down." The Swedish captain scoffed.

 _' **A little pressure?** Anyone would find a **little** trouble with three giants guarding them!'_ Her eyes narrowed, and Stephanie giggled happily.

"Don't forget to keep an eye on the ball!" She said to the other team, "Or... just keep up!"

Before they could even reply Mitch was already dribbling, stance on the chair lower as her dribbling came closer to the ground. The grip on her shoes pressed against the lower bars of the stool, and she took a small breath before increasing the speed of her dribbling.

A swipe from the right, and they expected to steal the ball and take another shot. No one was expecting the screech of metal against the ground, and for Mitch to spin around the captain and take a three pointer while sitting.

"24-8." Stephanie kept track of the points with a smile.

Mitch, however, pouted, "I don't know how I'll top that shot, but we can try."

"Cocky little shit..." One of the team members muttered as Mitch started at the top of the key again.

They were being completely annihilated by three girls; one of which was on a stool. Their sexist thoughts were interrupted when Mitch began to dribble.

 _'I'm not gonna be embarrassed any further!'_ One of them rushed forward to try to steal the ball, prompting the other forward to attack from the other side.

 _'We won't lose to a bunch of girls!'_

Mitch smirked and pushed her foot off the ground, sliding the stool forward. The captain took that as his chance, and rushed forward, not expecting Mitch to swivel around from her seat and dribble so that her back faced him. She tossed the ball behind her as he moved to try to steal the ball, and Natasha came up and waited for the ball to hit the backboard so she could rebound and pass it to Stephanie for a three.

The score was 27-8.

"Did it go in?" Mitch asked the captain. He scoffed in reply, kicking her stool back so she'd reset to her starting position, "Touchy..."

Her lopsided grin shrank as Stephanie bubbly skipped to her side.

"So... When we're done Neechan wants you to work on your shooting skills. She didn't like that you missed and she had to rebound."

"Seriously?" Mitch grimaced when Natasha shook her head, and glared at the captain, "You guys got me into trouble. It's time to end this."

"Thanks for playing!" Stephanie waved as Mitch started dribbling again.

"You're not getting rid of us that easy!" One of the members said as he practically attacked her, his arms spread out and disabling Mitch to find a proper position to pass to her right. The member on her left did the same, but this time covered her left and behind her, equally distributing the space between him and the other member. The rest of her view was blocked by the captain himself.

"You don't have to worry about us~" Stephanie tapped the shoulder of the member that was guarding her, "She's not gonna pass the ball anymore."

"What- how do I know you're not tricking me?"

"Look for yourself." Stephanie pointed.

And it was true, as open as Natasha was Mitch refused to just toss the ball over their heads and have Natasha finish the game. She was hellbent on getting out of the situation herself.

"It's a good strategy." Riko shook her head, "Focused on an ace to steal the thunder during a tournament."

"Huh? What do you mean, Riko-chan?" Izuki asked.

Riko pointed at the two girls, who were very laid back. "Natasha-chan and Stephanie-chan are nowhere near as tired as Michelle-chan, they're not even sweating. Focusing everyone's attention on Michelle-chan, an obviously excellent athlete, means no one will take their team lightly. It also means that they'll focus their attention on Michelle-chan more than those two. They're also exceptional players from what we can tell of the data, so no one will expect them to round up the points and everyone will be too busy shutting Michelle-chan down."

"Sacrificing an ace player's abilities to hide and save the others... It would make gathering data much more difficult." Momoi agreed.

Kagami chuckled, and slapped Kuroko on the back, "It's like a Misdirection Overflow, but put into strategy form. I see what you mean, Kuroko."

Michelle hooked her calves around the stool's legs, and stood on the steps of the stool, dribbling the ball with lightning speed as she pivot the stool around and tried getting away from the three players. She finally grinned as she realized how she'd get out of this.

Deftly maneuvering her way around the captain, she dribbled the ball between his legs and pivot the stool around the team member on her left. Somehow, the ball had curved and bounced towards her direction as she kicked the stool out from under her so it was upside down. She landed on the steps of the stool, caught the ball, and shot it into the basket from outside the three point arc.

"And that makes thirty!" Mitch laughed, her friendly demeanor coming out again as she sent a thumbs up to Kagami and flipped the stool back to it's original position and sat down on it, "Ha! You're next, Taiga!"

As the Swedish team slunk away in shame and hurt ego, Kagami jumped over the barriers between the seating area and the court, prompting everyone else to do the same as Natasha and Stephanie approached Michelle.

"You didn't have to come off as arrogant." Natasha chided gently.

Michelle spun around in the stool, tipping it on each of it's legs as she grinned, "We should play an official game like this, it'd make it more fun!"

"And more susceptible to injuries." Natasha rolled her eyes as Stephanie tipped the stool up while it was on three legs, skipping away innocently as Michelle tumbled backwards.

"Ow!"

Kagami snickered, "Nice game."

Michelle sat up, her grin lopsided as she looked at the arena of teams that were leaving, "If someone underestimates us again, I'll make sure they don't even score."

"They're expecting that from you now." Riko said, "It was a good strategy, putting all the attention on you so Natasha-chan and Stephanie-chan can still have their specialties behind them."

"Strategy...?" Michelle asked.

Natasha and Stephanie shook their heads and shrugged.

"We were simply playing." Natasha told them.

Stephanie nodded, "Michi-Michi always ends up attracting a challenge. We've learned to deal with it."

"I-it wasn't a strategy? To misdirect everyone's attention to her so your own talents wouldn't be known?" Hyuuga asked.

"Hey if they aren't good players, it makes for a boring match, right?" Michelle asked, "Besides, the only reason you and Satsu-chan can't find my data is because when I play, it doesn't make sense to document more than 'exceptional ball-handling.'"

She smiled and waved off Riko and Momoi's shock, "Steph told me she saw you two looking up our data. My ball-handling is usually overlooked because the Gemini Twins are such a good duo." She jabbed a thumb in the direction of the two blondes.

"...twins?!" Takao exclaimed.

"Un! Neechan decided to skip a grade, but I liked to stay in my grade cause we have more interesting people~" Stephanie smiled, "Neechan is the older twin, of course."

"If you ever see us play a real match, you'll end up finding their duo play much more interesting." Michelle nodded, "Now then... Let's find out who you guys play against."


	8. And So It Begins

"Taiga, you can't just order that much food!" Michelle complained when she saw the mountain on Kagami's tray.

Kagami shrugged, paying no heed to her since he was just so damn hungry. He and the rest of Team Japan- Stephanie insisted that was their official name -were getting lunch after having seen the first three games for the day. There were thirty countries in all:

01\. Japan

02\. Korea

03\. China

04\. Vietnam

05\. Philippines

06\. Thailand

07\. Russia

08\. Switzerland

09\. Norway

10\. Germany

11\. Austria

12\. Italy

13\. France

14\. Spain

15\. Portugal

16\. United Kingdom

17\. Greece

18\. Egypt

19\. Tunisia

20\. South Africa

21\. Zambia

22\. Algeria

23\. New Zealand

24\. Australia

25\. Canada

26\. Mexico

27\. Brasil

28\. Argentina

29\. Colombia

30\. United States

Over the course of six weeks, the teams of each country would play exhibition games in a tournament style for six days- three days for the girls, three days for the boys. The one day left over would be a special event to highlight skills and talents of players who were exceptional to that skill.

It had been two days, filled with welcoming ceremonies, since Team Japan's arrival, which left more time for all the teams to arrive except for one: America's very own men's team. During this time Riko and Momoi had become completely immersed in their analyzations an data, leaving anyone who didn't have pertinent information out of their conversation. The two girls even took a whole table to themselves as they had notebooks and papers and charts spread out.

"Today's the official day we begin," Natasha said, "No one knows the men's lineup till at least tomorrow, will you two be analyzing each team the whole day?"

"We wanted to sit in on some practices of other teams, but we've decided that the teams in our bracket won't be a problem for our players." Riko explained, showing Natasha how the countries had been divided into two brackets.

"So what happens after someone loses?" Takao asked Michelle.

She sat down beside Kagami and Kuroko, and began to unwrap her own burger, "The losers will face off in their own games after the winners of week one and two are determined. So the third and fourth week is for the winner's to practice while the loser's face off in their own games. Since the first three days of the week are for girl's games, and the next three are for guys, we'll do the same thing for the losers until the fourth week, when we can mesh the teams together even more."

"Mesh the teams together?"

Stephanie nodded to Kise's question, "Un~, if both teams of a country are losers, they'll be able to combine their teams to have a mix of both boys and girls. In week five, after the semi-finals, all the countries will combine their teams and we'll all play against each other! We're pretty tough to beat, so we'll see you guys in the semis, ne?" She grinned.

"Which reminds me… we gotta get going for our own game." Michelle stood up, handing her half of the burger to Kagami, who quickly shoved it into his mouth before starting on his seventh burger, "Where the hell are the others?"

"We should go and watch to support." Kiyoshi smiled at them and at his own friends.

Kiss looked at his own captain, "That sounds like it'd be fun!"

Riko waved them off.

"Go ahead. Momoi-chan and I will catch up with you all. I want to see Michelle's actual play, and this infamous Gemini Twin attack that the internet was talking about."

"Awesome! So you all better step up your game now that you've got a good audience." Kise began to wrap an arm around Michelle's shoulder, but a deep rumbling from Kagami stopped all movement within the group.

"Kise… that's not appropriate." He tried to sound as respectful as he could while being protective of his little sister figure.

Michelle ducked under Kise's arm, and laughed, "Calm down there, _oniichan_. You've been gone for almost a year and a half, I think I'm okay on the whole appropriate front."

"What is that supposed to mean?" There were few instances where Kagami could stop eating, and by few, everyone that had known him thus far meant that they'd never seen him stop eating of his own accord. So when he stopped now… Natasha frowned, watching as Michelle was about to explain some uncomfortable instances of what she deemed appropriate.

Luckily, each of the girls' phones rang out.

Michelle pouted now that she couldn't tell her stories, and pouted even more when she read the text, "Ugh… we got stuck playing Russia. Of all the first games to have…"

She rolled her eyes and pocketed her phone, "I think we'll probably have trouble the first quarter, since the captain is so damn annoying and Natasha likes to observe. You should come round the second quarter or half time, that's when we'll really be kicking ass."

"Hou~," Stephanie mused, "That mean's they're all defensive players."

"I'll be power forward then. Michelle, you switch to point guard and Stephanie be small forward so Ashley can still be shooting guard and Maria can be center." Natasha already had a game plan in mind as she grabbed her bag and began walking out, leaving the tray on the trash can after sliding the food into the garbage. She pushed the door open with her back as she looked at Michelle, "If anything, we can switch you and Stephanie around. And for every shot you miss you're doing five rounds of those shooting drills tonight. I'm expecting your shooting average to go up higher this year."

"Oh c'mon! It's pretty high already, isn't it?" Michelle shrugged as she followed.

"We want to turn that percentage into a 100% this year."

"You always want 100%…"

"Exactly."

"Think of it this way, Michi-Michi, at least then you'll be able to shoot more than me!"

"Why you little brat I-"

Rico looked up from her data as the door closed, "I want to watch their game. There's this odd feeling I have…"

"You feel like we could learn something from them, don't you?" Momoi asked.

When Riko nodded, Momoi agreed with a smile, "I feel the same. I think we can improve some player's abilities if we had some inspiration from Miichan's play."

"And that Gemini Twin duo, that teamwork potential could be something we can use."

Riko was already pulling Hyuuga and Kiyoshi away, with the rest in tow as Momoi pushed Aomine out the door.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime.**


	9. USA (W) v Russia (W): Welcome to America

"Russian babes are hot." Was one of Aomine's only comments as he saw the captain of the Russian team: a blonde, brown eyed 'babe' that held her head high with confidence.

The captain had run over to the center line last, where the two teams were now bidding each other a good game. As the two teams got into positions, the arena was suddenly murmuring at who was making the starting jump. The tallest girl of the Russian team was practically 5'11, and she snorted as she looked down at the short Latina girl in front of her.

"What? _You're_ supposed to get the ball?" The Russian center, number 9, asked.

The shorter girl's dark eyes glanced up silently, and she shrugged, pushing her dark hair behind her back as she readied herself for a jump.

"That girl can't be taller than 5 feet!" Members of the audience said.

"N-no way that that's their center!" Wakamatsu gaped.

"Maria Hernandez, four foot eleven and a half inches. She's the center of the team with an average rebound percentage as high as 85%." Momoi told them.

Riko nodded, "They say that the volleyball team never forgave Natasha for stealing Hernandez away."

The referee threw the ball up, and as the Russian girl jumped she stretched her fingers out to tip the ball to her team. There was a collective gasp as a smaller hand jut out a head above Number 09's hand, and passed it back to Mitch, who grinned.

"Thanks, Mari!" Mitch watched with a smile as the Russian team pulled back for defense, save for their point guard, the captain, 03. "Welcome to America."

03 scoffed, "It's an honor to defeat the home team."

Mitch's smile widened, and she crossed over the ball as she waited for her own team to get into place, watching as Natasha stood at the right of her and Stephanie to the left.

"It's an honor to have ambitious opponents in the first game." Mitch muttered as she dribbled her way to the right, faking and pivoting to pass to Stephanie, before faking that pass back to pass straight to America's fifth player, "Ash!"

"Gotcha!" The brunette caught the ball and laid it up, earning the first two points of the game. She smiled and bumped fists with Maria.

"Ashley White, their usual shooting guard." The name contradicted the girl's ebony complexion, but it was apparent that she was the tallest on the team, "Along with the height of the team she's got the highest shooting percentage of the girl's league. Never missing a shot, as well as never letting an opponent out shoot her."

Mitch's dribbling was as speedy as usual, switching paces from fast to faster, and when it took particularly long for her to find an opening, she would fit in a couple crossover dribbles. The only trouble she had as of yet was finding out when Natasha and Stephanie were ready to get serious. After she decided to go for a three pointer, and as she began jogging backwards to get onto defense, she asked Stephanie herself.

"You two gonna join in anytime soon, or what?" She asked.

"Nee-chan's being wary of them, she doesn't want to reveal a lot in the first game." Stephanie shrugged before running off to her own position. Mitch sighed.

"It can't be helped, then."

Over the course of the quarter, the Russian team had begun to show off their inane power and strength. It seemed that all of the Russian team had a good jumping ability, outmatching Maria at times, and their captain was one hell of a shot from behind the three point line.

 _'Outside shooters, rebound-based, with a solid defense.'_ Natasha had deduced, _'And 06 is able to steal Michelle's passes from time to time...'_

As Mitch held her hand up to begin a play, Natasha ran behind Mitch, "Level up, we need to start closing the gap."

Mitch glanced at the scoreboard, 21-24, with Russia leading. She smirked, tongue sticking out briefly as her dribbling increased in rhythm, and this time she dealt with mainly crossover dribbles. She held her forefinger up, circling her finger in a clockwise rotation twice as she dribbled with her left hand. Her smile turned to a full blown grin as she rushed into the lane, bouncing the ball around the captain and catching it before she went up for a layup, finding her path blocked by 09. She passed below her, towards Ashley, and quickly landed and got around 09 so she could head towards her defense position. Ashley's three pointer made it in, as per usual.

"Half a minute!" Steph called out, "Six points!"

The Russian team tensed when they heard Stephanie's call. She couldn't really be predicting how many more points they were going to score, could she? Stephanie smiled at the team, as if knowing exactly their thoughts, and winked as she caught the blur of a ball with one hand.

Her three pointer made it in before the clock had gone down to twenty, and she giggled and jogged down to her defensive position.

"Stephanie." Natasha's chiding tone wasn't lost on Stephanie, or the team.

"She's just havin' fun, Nat!" Ash laughed.

Maria chuckled as well, "I want to make the next shot."

"Ha, as if! We need another three to make the six point quota. You can make your two point shots in the second quarter." Ash replied as the Russian team came down to their side of the court.

Mitch looked behind her, "It's time for the Gemini Twins to come out."

"I was hoping to wait for the second quarter to pass before then." Natasha admit.

Mitch smirked, standing up from her low position, "We have an audience to entertain, remember?" She pointed over at Team Japan, and winked at them as she assumed a laid back stance.

Steph giggled and abandoned her defensive post, running past Mitch and down the court as Natasha rushed forward as well.

Mitch barely had time to blink before seeing the movement, "H-Hey!"

"Stephanie!" It was obvious that Stephanie was acting on her own game plan, but her team quickly adjusted to her.

"Mari, change marks!" Natasha said as she watched Stephanie glide throughout the court, "Ash, take my mark- switch!"

"W-wait!" The captain of the Russian team tried to warn to her team, glancing back because Natasha and Stephanie were zig zagging in between all the members. The ball was quickly stolen from her by Mitch, and Mitch pivot around the captain and dribbled down the center, veering right as she passed the ball behind her back to the left.

' _S-she didn't even look behind her when she made that pass!_ ' Number 03 looked on, frozen in horror as she saw the ball land in Stephanie's hands. The girl giggled as she faked around the center, then two more members before bouncing the ball under her legs and letting Natasha catch it from the top of the key, Natasha ran down the lane and passed it to Stephanie, who continued to confuse the Russian defense by circling around the inside defense and passing it to Natasha, who caught it on the outside in the midst of the chaos from inside the key.

The three point shot went in just a second before the buzzer sounded, and Stephanie gladly tossed the ball to the referee as the girls headed to their respective benches.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Davina: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked how Vietnam was included. Watch out for them in the future- _maybe_ they'll play against the GoM? Lol :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime.**


	10. USA (W) v Russia (W): Second Quarter

"That play... was cool!" The audience began to cheer.

Mitch snorted in laughter, covering her snorts with her fist as Natasha glared at Stephanie.

"What did I say about making such useless movements?"

"But... Michi-Michi said we needed to _entertain_ everyone!"

"Not like that." Natasha assured.

Stephanie rubbed the back of her head, and smiled unsurely back at Team Japan, shrugging as she looked at them. Kagami chuckled.

"Steph made that showy play just for us."

"She went around all five players twice just to make sure they all started to defend from the inside. It left their outside defense weaker than it should have been." Riko analyzed quickly.

Kagami nodded, "Nat doesn't like making things that chaotic. And usually they can do that without Steph playing around. But that's the Gemini Twins for you. You never know what you're gonna get."

"Michelle-chan didn't even hesitate with that blind, behind-the-back pass." Kuroko couldn't help but admire that, and remembered how many times he had done something with complete faith in his teammates. There were times in his games with Seirin where advanced opponents like Aomine, Kise, or Akashi could tell where he was going to pass because of his very subtle eye movements. But Michelle didn't even look when she passed.

The only time he or his team had experienced something like that was in their final Winter Cup game, when they had broken through the second door of the Zone.

"This team of girls played against former college stars about half a year ago." Alex approached the group from behind, "Michelle was the one who had gotten in the Zone, going up against my old friend who played in UCLA longer than me. The team adjusted well to her."

"Che, so she's already that far?" Kagami asked.

Alex nodded, "My little sisters opened a door for themselves, one that I haven't seen before. The ultimate duo level. Mitch must have pushed them to start it at this match, because Natasha was saving it for the last rounds of the tournament."

"Steph was the one who showed off."

Alex chuckled, "That's it then. They're showing off for all of you here."

The second quarter started, and as the team headed out on the bench Izuki noted something odd.

"Where are the rest of their players?" He asked.

No one was at the girl's bench, not even a coach.

"Their school has been having a bit of drama about the second string, but the men's coach doubles as the women's coach, and he's overseas with the men's team." Alex replied.

The Russian team was fighting hard to close the gap between them, starting off strong and using their captain's shooting ability to it's utmost potential. After the first shot though, Mitch's smirk had already shown the game was over, despite the 27-all score.

She crossed the ball under her legs as she went head to head with the captain, waiting for her team to set up position. After one particularly hard bounce of the ball Mitch rushed forward, moving past the captain on the left as the ball went to the right. Natasha caught the ball, dribbling it as she walked round the three point arc, calming down the fast tempo from the first quarter.

She passed the ball to Stephanie and rushed inside the key, catching the ball Stephanie passed back to her and laying it up, passing it when two defenders blocked her and having Stephanie catch it and lay it up behind the three people.

Mitch jogged backwards after whistling, "Now they're getting back into it."

"Are we really gonna drag this out?" Ashley stretched as the other team approached.

Mitch shrugged, "After this play, wanna break?"

"Hells yah." Ash grinned, slapping a high five with Mitch as they went into defense. Maria was quick to recover the captain's rebound, after Natasha had made sure to make the captain miss, and Maria passed it to Mitch.

Mitch was calmer, more laid back, and grinned as Natasha and Stephanie began to zig zag- an indication to the Russian team and the audience that they were about to pull off another fast paced, duo play.

Mitch crossed over multiple times, and when the ball was in her right hand she crossed over once more, not catching it with her left as she turned round to her right and circled around. Natasha suddenly appeared, catching the ball while Mitch screened Natasha's mark, and Natasha pivot round towards Mitch, dribbling the ball as Stephanie came up from behind the two, hands outstretched for the ball.

The team followed Natasha's pass to Stephanie, and Stephanie grinned, passing it blindly back as Natasha freed herself at the three point line and shot the ball.

There was a moment of silence as everyone realized the door that had been opened. Natasha and Stephanie might as well have been in a world of their own, where each pass of theirs was directed to movements only they knew and where they accommodated their team. The blinding speed blew people away because the direction of plays or passes were given without hand signals or eye contact. It was pure trust and instinct. The second quarter breezed by with these types of plays, and the crowd, after cheering for each shot, would quiet down back into silence to watch with anticipation.

It was that silence that made Ashley, Maria, and Mitch start laughing in their own corner of the court, returning from the locker rooms after half time ended and giggling to themsves.

"Why was everyone so dramatic?" Mitch held her sides as she laughed.

Ashley bent down on her knees as she jabbed a thumb back at the Russian team, "Did you see their faces?! It was like 'whoa~'" Ashley pretended to go off balance and laughed again.

Maria laughed at the two, "But Steph was in a whole other zone! She wasn't even giggling in the past few plays!"

The three looked at each other, then at the sister duo that was joining them, "Ooo she's serious!" They chorused, teasing the younger blonde by crowding around her and laughing, who was now very confused.

"You three are training tonight."

Natasha's threat made the three players go wide eyed, and they immediately protested.

"What!" "No way!" "Why?!"

"Get us to 120, and I'll cancel your extra training."

"Where are we now?" Mitch glanced at the scoreboard, eyes scanning over the crowd that watched them before landing on the red numbers above.

The score was 59-27, with the third quarter beginning in a minute. Mitch grinned, and nodded at Ashley and Maria.

"Does this mean we get full reign?" Mitch turned her glance from the scoreboard to Natasha.

Maria's fist went up as she jumped high, "Finally!"

"Stephanie and I will screen and provide defense." Natasha nodded as she drank water.

"Hey, this time we'll break." Mitch nodded to Ashley.

"Good, I wanna let that Russian captain know who the real shooter is here." Ashley smiled as the third quarter buzzer rang.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime.**


	11. USA (W) v Russia (W): Last Half

Mitch knew how eager Ashley was to show off her shooting skills, and Maria wanted to show that the Russian team hadn't overcome her entirely.

"Redeem yourself, Mari!" Mitch was the first to break off from the group, and Ashley pulled Stephanie away to the other side as Natasha was the only one that stayed to defend with Maria.

"Eh?! They're leaving only two people to defend!" Takao was surprised at the uneven spread of people on the court.

"They provoked the captain to face Natasha-chan head on. She's going to try to make the shot, and Natasha-chan will make her miss again." Momoi predicted.

She was correct, and Maria was the first in the air to catch the rebound, passing it mid air down the court to Mitch.

"Nice job, Mari!" Mitch grinned, and a quick touch pass to the corner of the court had the ball meet Ashley, who stood there expectantly and made a three point shot.

"I'm getting impatient." Ashley told Mitch as they slowly jogged towards the defensive positions.

Mitch pouted and stopped just at the half court line, turning around to face their basket. "Follow my lead, and we better get to Nat's goal by fourth quarter- I hate those shooting drills."

"You got it!" Ashley smiled back and nodded.

Mitch felt a poke at her shoulder as they let the Russian captain and the forward pass by.

"Where do I go?" Stephanie pointed at herself with a clueless face, and Mitch's hand went up to smack her own forehead.

"Shit..." She glanced back as Maria caught another rebound, and Mitch caught the mid air pass, "Follow my lead."

"Okay!" Steph stood across the court from Natasha, being left behind on the Russian's side of the court as Ashley and Mitch powered forward. Maria ran up behind Mitch and in the center position.

 _Thumpthumpthumpthump-th-th-thump-th-th-thump-th-th-thump-th-th-thump..._

In that time Natasha and Stephanie made their way to stand on either side of Mitch, and the Russian team quickly put a girl to defend on each one, man to man.

Mitch grinned, and rushed towards Ashley's side, seeing the girl guarding her could keep up, Mitch faked and ran the opposite direction. Her mark and Ashley's tried to catch her, but a yell from afar suggested they do otherwise.

"Ball!" The Russian captain yelled at the free ball bouncing on the court.

When had everyone lost sight of the ball? Mitch started laughing at the two girls who had tried to guard her, and they quickly sought to fix their mistake.

By then Ashley had scooped it up, and Mitch was suddenly standing where Ashley had been.

"Break!"

Ashley ran down to the top of the key, setting up another play as Natasha and Stephanie adjusted to the sudden change. Maria, Mitch and Ashley had changed positions all too quickly, and after Ashley put down another three, Maria was at the out of bounds area, quickly reclaiming the ball from the Russian team and shutting down their sole chance of getting points.

Mitch was taking it quite easy now since Ashley was proving herself to be a troublesome opponent on her own.

"I want one more basket from you." Natasha ordered to Mitch.

"Aw, Mari wanted the last shot." Mitch insisted.

"She can do that in a later game." Natasha glanced at Maria, and shook her head, causing Maria to frown a bit as she nodded.

"Fine, fine." Mitch approached Ashley's side, "Nat wants me to be last shot."

Ashley passed the ball to Mitch, and Mitch passed it back, "Three pointer?"

"Double dunk." Mitch grinned, looking at Kagami and briefly motioning to the basket, "So Taiga can see."

"Alright... Last shot then." Ashley mentioned. She bounced the ball to Mitch, "Break!"

Again the girls shifted round, with nothing more than that word they didn't bother sending signals or hand gestures. Mitch's slow dribbling began to quicken in speed and after Ashley ran past Maria, Maria laid off Number 09. Mitch smirked, rushing forward down the lane, jumping up and reaching out to dunk the ball into the hoop with her right hand. Number 09 was taller though, and she was sure she was in the way of the ball's path, until she swiped air.

The harsh and thundering sound of the ball hitting the rim meant it got through, and in less than a moment Mitch's left hand caught the ball, fingers barely grasping the rim as the ball went in. She swung her legs to the side to avoid hitting Number 09 in the face, and fell to the ground, sliding round on her butt as she laughed. The buzzer rang.

131-30.

Mitch glanced up at Kagami from the court floor, and pointed at the basket, "Double dunk, Bakagami!"

"That tricky little cheater. That's a rebound off yourself!" Kagami yelled back, his voice almost drowned out by the cheers of the crowd. He was swept up in the excitement, and ran down to the court after the girls had said their good games, with Team Japan in tow.

"Double dunk! Double dunk!" Stephanie cheered by herself as she giggled.

"Uh... Nat... Who's this?" Ashley asked about the group that approached.

"They're Team Japan. We grew up with Taiga, though." Natasha explained.

Ashley and Maria nodded, and shrugged. They didn't know Japanese all too well, but they knew a bit. After introducing themselves they decided to hit the showers and leave, telling Natasha that they'd be back for practice and their next games.

"You can't say that's a dunk!" Kagami insisted to Mitch as he ruffled her hair.

Michelle smiled wide, "You thought it was when I played you!"

"But still!"

"It's a good move though, right? It works for any backboard angle!" Michelle was proud of that, they could tell.

"Riko-chan, Satsu-chan, what'd ya think?" Stephanie approached the two with an innocent smile.

"Good game!" Momoi complimented.

"Boring, since it was an easy opponent though, ne?" Steph asked, "But Michi-Michi said you wanted to be entertained, so we tried!"

"You entertained us enough." Riko assured, "Your teamwork is fantastic."

Her compliment made Natasha nod in gratitude as they walked off the courts, "Thank you. We try."

The next game was about to start, and as the girls headed out with the group Michelle laughed with Kagami and Kuroko. She was really quite comfortable with them, even going so far as making a couple digs at Kise when the opportunity arose.

"Since you're here we have to go to the street courts, Taiga!" Michelle insisted, "At least once, please?"

"Michelle, they're here to compete in a tournament already, enough basketball." Natasha overheard the conversation.

She knew that once Kagami and Michelle started playing, they would forget all about their responsibilities. They always did.

"Fine... but when you guys play you have to make it interesting!" She told Kagami, "Otherwise it's gonna be boring cheering in the stands."

Something had been eating at Kuroko, and a few others, ever since the end of the game. He couldn't help but wonder...

"Michelle-chan?"

Michelle turned round to Kuroko with an inquisitive smile, "Yeah, Kuroko-kun?"

"That pass in the third quarter to Ashley-san, you seemed to have the ball while it disappeared from your hands..."

"Huh?" Michelle seemed to have no clue. She thought the most memorable part of her game was her double dunk or even Natasha and Stephanie's Gemini play... Maybe they hadn't played it as exceptionally as they could have, and therefore not as impressive as her fake.

Inwardly, she promised herself to make it more outstanding next game.

"Ah, Kuroko, you're probably talking about Mitch's fake." Kagami realized, his uncomfortable glance that he and Natasha shared was only for a second, "When she went against the two players and faked having the ball and then left it for Ashley to pick up. Right?"

She frowned, "Damn..."

Kuroko nodded, "It's just so opposite from my own play. It's interesting."

"Oh! Like your play style where you misdirect the ball because no one can sense you on the court!" Stephanie reiterated.

Michelle was immediately enlightened, and smiled, "Oh... That makes so much sense of our game the other day. I kept wondering how no one could see your passes, Kuroko-kun."

"Yes, but Michelle-chan managed to make the one object that everyone's eyes are on disappear momentarily. It seems like you misdirect because of the amount of attention on you."

"Eh, I guess it's okay," Michelle smiled and chuckled, "It was my trump card back in middle school, but it got a bit troublesome so I toned it down a bit in high school."

"No she didn't." Steph grinned widely as Michelle glared at her, and happily walked along the group as she explained,

"Michi-Michi was notorious in the high school league already, they all knew her trump card."

"Yeah, yeah... They knew about it. Didn't mean they deserved to see it in action..." Michelle mumbled to herself. She looked away from the group to indicate that she was no longer involved in the conversation, eyes wandering out to the crowded park and its current lively inhabitants. Her eyes narrowed briefly as she saw a familiar face, and she glanced away, "Enough about our moves, I want to see all the moves Alex told me about. She said she saw some amazing things in Japan."

She knew she had distracted Kagami, having him play right into how she led the conversation and excitedly explaining how his team had overcome significant hardships to get to where they were today- as Japan's national champions. It riled up the rest, as well, when they insisted that Kagami wasn't telling the story properly.

"Well you'll see us play!" Kagami insisted when even Hyuga said that Kagami wasn't remembering things correctly.

Michelle smiled and nodded, from what she'd heard, missing them play for the first time would be a mistake. She was always trying to find ways to improve her own basketball.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime.**


	12. Skunks on the Street

**Long time no read, right? LOL, just playin' with y'all!**

 **So, I'm more a volleyball player than a basketball player, to be honest. If anyone has any special events that they think would be perfect for the exhibition tournament, I'm more than happy to hear about it! I need some more ideas other than a special dunk competition and a free-throw competition...**

 **Any and all help would be appreciated! As well as criticisms, since I'm still not yet caught up on Kuroko no Basuke, although with my course load lightening up this fall and with my summer classes ending that may change!**

* * *

Stephanie's eyes widened with wonderment, "Wow!"

"Michelle..."

"I know." Michelle responded to Natasha, eyes still glued to the court as she watched Team Japan play.

Riko and Momoi weren't holding back, even when they knew that going up against the Swiss team would be an easier match. They had brought out the Generation of Miracles, plus one, for the first team line up: Kagami, Kuroko, Midorima, Kise, and Aomine. At first Michelle thought that Aomine, Kise, and Kagami were too similar of players to be able to work well, but she was reminded that the whole lineup, excluding Kagami, had played together once before.

"Alex wasn't fucking kidding." Michelle murmured. They had all but annihilated the team, with a score of 100-15. The crowd, of course, was suddenly finding themselves in love with Team Japan.

"Team Japan! Team Japan! Team Japan!"

Stephanie knew how to rile up a crowd, after all. Her giggles remained even after the game, and she was the least uncomfortable of the girls when they joined the team.

"The crowd loves you!" She smiled wide at them all, "You were really good! Michi-Michi feels a bit threatened now, ne, Michi-Michi?"

She turned to the girl that had all of a sudden turned quiet, and the group realized that, even as they were walking back to the hotel Michelle had barely spoken a word. And Natasha was very much hovering over every action Michelle was to take.

"Hm? Oh..." Michelle knew everyone thought she hadn't even been listening. And they were right. She hadn't. She had known Tatsuya had improved, and the last time she had played Kagami she had seen improvement. But for those five to have such an easy game and still be able to show off how much they could do... Well, she felt restless.

"Interesting enough for you?" Kagami teased as he tried to coax a reaction out of his friend.

Mitch turned to Kagami, "Play me."

He was taken aback at first, when he saw how serious she looked. Michelle was rarely serious, an obvious fact that had been picked up by all when they saw how laid back and stress free she acted. Her attitude in her basketball game had only reaffirmed that observation when they remembered her large grin of amusement during yesterday's game.

After letting her words settle in, Kagami regained composure. He remembered how the two would want to one up each other as much as they could in order to improve themselves or prove a point. He grinned, "Su-"

"Play against him now and I'll bench you our next game."

"But-!"

"Would you like to be benched the next four games as well?"

Michelle turned to Natasha, almost snarling, and resorted to crossing her arms and staring straight ahead while she brooded. Natasha, on the other hand, decided not to dwell on the subject any longer.

"Your play style has improved, Taiga. Good for you."

"Huh? Oh, thanks! I couldn't have done it without everyone, though." Kagami grinned proudly.

And just like that the conversation had veered off. While Kagami and the others spoke of their basketball achievements to Natasha, Michelle was left to her own thoughts of how to improve, and Stephanie had made an unlikely yet not so unlikely friend in Takao, and was currently trying to get a reaction out of the very stoic Midorima.

* * *

"Michelle was very... _Inspired_ by your game yesterday." Natasha seemed to have found the correct word for what she was trying to say, "And I suppose Riko and Momoi overestimated what your training schedule would be for today in terms of length of time."

"So does this mean...?" Kagami expectantly asked with a big grin.

"Yes, Taiga, since your training has been cut short you can join her in the street matches."

"Yes! Alright, Kuroko, let's go! We'll beat everyone at the courts!"

"It'll be interesting to go up against more American players."

"Oi! Tetsu!" Aomine interrupted, "Don't go hanging out with just the Baka. I'm sure American players can't even match up, if the best they had was Kagami."

"What the hell are you trying to say, Aomine?" Kagami fiercely looked over at the smirking blue haired basketball player, and stopped glaring once he heard Michelle's laughter.

"Oh come on, Taiga, let's go play already. Anyone else is free to join."

"Let's go, Shin-chan!" Takao was quick to join, once he saw Steph beside Michelle.

Midorima was having none of it. "I would much rather-"

"Didn't you tell me that your horoscope today said new environments would be good luck? And besides! Steph-chan here has your lucky item!" Takao whispered the last part so suggestively that Midorima almost blushed.

It was a wonder how they could make it to the street courts in less than half an hour, and Michelle was ecstatic as she saw how many people were turning up. Some even from the competition, just for kicks. Others were local street players.

"Hey! Look who's back!" A couple locals greeted Kagami with fist bumps and waves, and Michelle spoke to Team Japan as Kagami caught up with the American street players.

"I don't know how different Japanese street ball is from American street ball, but there shouldn't be too much of a difference in levels since you guys can keep up with Taiga, right?" She asked.

Kuroko nodded, confident in his friends and comrades' abilities. That confidence made Michelle grin.

"Then do you mind sitting back for these first couple games? I'd like to see if Taiga and I can still play well together, considering we've learned a lot since we last played."

"It'll be fun watching Kagami-kun play with someone before we met him." Kuroko said as Michelle's grin widened. She thanked them quickly and stood at the court, yelling over for Kagami to hurry because they were rusty and she wanted to get back into their top duo shape.

"You're the one who might be rusty, I've been playing with Kuroko all this time."

"Oh we'll see who's got more kick in'em today." Michelle replied to Kagami's taunt, the two slapped their hands together and ended their handshake with a fist bump, nodding as they automatically knew who would guard who.

"How should we get this one, Taiga?" Michelle grinned as she kept her eyes on the ball and the player in front of her, guarding his movements and keeping herself on her toes.

She stole the ball a second before her opponent had made a decision, and Kagami answered.

"One up!"

At that Mitch laughed, and she tossed the ball up towards the net. "Alright, let's do it!"

Kagami was in the air to catch the ball, his body facing towards Mitch as he did. When the ball was in his hands he turned around, and slammed the ball in; the one marking him had no choice but to back away and the sound of the metal being slammed against rang throughout the streets.

"Winner's ball?" She asked the guys on the court, they all nodded, and she caught the ball at the half court line.

The next play came with Mitch smirking as Kagami performed a windmill dunk. Her bounce pass to him as he jumped up was too quick for their opponents to catch, and the ball had gone into the net sooner than one could blink. She took the ball and dribbled over to the half court line to set up for the next play.

By then, the opponents had already begun underestimating Mitch, as the two opponents both covered Kagami, and half heartedly guarded Mitch. This time it was Kagami who had to smirk, as Mitch lined herself up with the net from the far side of the court.

"You shouldn't have done that." He smugly said as Mitch ran diagonally down the line, jumping up and turning round as one of the opponents went up to guard her. The other opponent blocked her view of Kagami, but he hadn't even tried to open himself up. Anyone in the arena could see Mitch's grin as her arm wound up and she dunked the ball in backwards- a reverse windmill.

She landed from her jump with a bit of grace, and knocked fists with Kagami as their opponents realized what they were in for.

"You almost lost that last one, didn't you?" Kagami asked.

Mitch scoffed at him, "As if I would let that happen."

"Wow~ Michi-Michi is good~!" Kise yelled out his approval as the crowds cheered and hurrah-ed at the dunk.

"I win that round." Michelle said, and Kagami was thankful not many others could understand Japanese.

"Oi, quiet about that! You know how people feel when you play a game in the game!"

"No one else speaks Japanese!" She argued, the playful glint in her eyes sparked the competitive fuse within Kagami.

"Hurry up and play!"

"Horse." Mitch's grin was lopsided as she dribbled, and Kagami's eyes widened before they narrowed in concentration.

Her dribbles became faster, crossing in between her legs three times as she went up against her opponent head on. She rushed forward so suddenly that the guy had rushed himself going back, but caught himself before he tripped. Mitch smirked at that, and this time headed left, rushing forward and jeering right, fast and sharp enough that the crowd went wild, and a group wide " _oohhh_ " echoed on the courts when her opponent tripped over himself. She shot the ball from the top of the key.

"Shit." Kagami ignored the crowd's cheers and this time went to the half court line, catching the ball and smirking to himself after glaring at Michelle. _'Well, she always wanted to keep it interesting.'_

"You've gotta be kidding me." Midorima wasn't the first to pick up on what Kagami and Mitch were doing, and it became even more apparent when Kagami dribbled in between his legs three times.

"They're playing a game within the game." Imayoshi's eyes narrowed. The two basketball players had gone from one-upping each other to playing a game of horse, while they were playing a two-on-two!

Stephanie giggled, "Good old times! Michi-Michi and Taiga would get yelled at for taking up the courts so long when they went against each other. So they decided to team up, and to figure out who was better they'd play basketball games while they played against opponents! It helped their dynamics, at least!"

The crowd went even wilder as Kagami's opponent fell over from trying to defend, and Kagami's shot from the top of the key went in.

Local players started pinching their noses and waving in front of their faces as if something smelled.

"Skunk!" They said. "Skunk! Skunk! Skunk! Skunk!"

Michelle laughed to herself as she picked up the ball, and shook hands with her opponents, "The rules here are winner's ball, 1 & 2s, up to 15, but we have a 7-0 skunk rule."

"Skunk rule?" Takao asked.

"If you can't score before your opponent gets to a certain number of points you lose automatically." Aomine informed, shrugging off the looks of curiosity from his peers with his hands casually stuffed in his pockets. He didn't spend all that time on street courts only to not pick up on the lingo as well. He owed a lot of his own reflexes to the streets he played in.

Kagami and Michelle did their little handshake before passing the ball on to the next group of players, bantering with each other as they approached their friends.

"Oh c'mon, it's fair."

"If the guy I was guarding tripped on the first drive that wouldn't have counted!"

"But he didn't trip!" Michelle laughed, "So you didn't lose!"

"It's a tie." Kagami agreed, and he looked over to the rest of his friends, "I think they're starting team games."

"Well then, I guess it's our turn." Kise suddenly had a glint in his eye. He was itching to try that driving ankle break. And by the looks of it, he wasn't the only one itching to play a game of street ball.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime.**


	13. R&R: Rest and Research

"We let you out early to rest, and you all played street ball?!" Riko yelled.

Momoi sighed, "Men truly are predictable."

Natasha's brow rose, "I knew you would play, but I didn't think all of you would play _that_ much."

"Well... We couldn't help it." Michelle grinned as they'd all entered their floor sweating and smiling. It was obvious that they'd all gotten a chance to play, and they had all seen the effects of their training. Riko and Momoi might as well have been magicians for being able to harmonize the players so they could all play together.

The only one who hadn't played was Stephanie, but she had taken a strong interest in Shuutoku's ace. His shooting ability fascinated the blonde, and as such she had been dutifully listening to the very short and blunt explanations of Midorima Shintarou. Takao, as friendly as he was, was ready to strangle his best friend. How could this frog haired boy not be friendly to such a pretty girl!

"Rest is just as important as the training itself." Momoi calmly said, she'd felt as if she'd said this multiple times before. In fact, she was certain of it. Riko was too, but she was less calm than Momoi.

"You're all grounded tomorrow!" Riko exclaimed, "Meet in the main suite tomorrow at 0600 hours for your mental training!"

"...that's not really rest then, is it?" Michelle had to turn her head to ask those around her in case she had heard wrong.

"It keeps us all from exerting ourselves physically." Kuroko said.

"Ah..." Michelle nodded as each person began heading to their designated rooms. "Wait, 0600?! In the morning?!"

* * *

"It's too early!" Michelle groaned from under the sheets in her bed.

The entirety of Team Japan was currently occupying the main suite, and they had seen how the girls had set up the rooms so that the beds were in the center.

Kagami chuckled, "There's three other rooms in this suite."

"My bed is in _this_ room!" Michelle complained, "Why don't _you_ go into the other rooms?"

"This is where we can fit the most people. So this is where we'll be!" Momoi was a lot more chipper than her American friend at the moment, and Aomine decided not to say anything about how it might have to do with a certain shadow in the room.

"Where's Kuroko-kun?" Michelle asked, "Tell him to get Kagami's ugly face outta my sight!"

Aomine was the first to snort in laughter.

"H-hey! That's uncalled for!" Kagami glared, and angrily pulled the covers away to properly glare at Michelle.

Before she could complain about the sudden cold, the cheers from the television stopped her. Riko had turned a game on, and while the teams were expecting their opponents to come on screen they saw something else entirely- Michelle, Natasha, and Stephanie.

"The movements of the American girl's team are similar to that of the men's. At least in terms of offense." Riko quickly explained, "I'm expecting America to place in the semi-finals if we don't have a match with them sooner. So I urge everyone here to watch the girl's style of offense while we can't see the men's team."

"Shit..." Michelle mumbled, sitting up in her bed as Natasha's brow rose.

"How ruthless...but smart, nonetheless." Natasha commented, "Michelle, Stephanie: we're taking this as our cue to move into the next room. I'd like to start our own practice in one hour."

"Sure~" Michelle slid off the bed, turning around to Riko and Momoi as Steph giggled and disappeared to the room, "By the way, your data is a little off. The men's team doesn't like to use as much offensive plays as we do. We strategize and they... Well... Taiga knows." Michelle shrugged. She waved them off and turned round, closing the door behind her.

"Your data gathering skills are... Notable." Natasha pointedly said, not glancing at Momoi purposefully, "But there are a few things that you've overlooked. I would recommend focusing on your team's core skills."

"Notable?" Momoi pouted when Natasha had headed towards the lobby. It sounded as if the blonde captain wasn't as impressed with Momoi's work!

"Team America wouldn't let me on their team." Kagami revealed, "There are high expectations, and when I tried out I barely made it to the second string."

"Second string?!" Takao exclaimed. How could anyone not let Kagami onto their team, they all thought.

Kagami scratched the back of his head, looking away with a little bit of shame in his eyes that he didn't want anyone to see, "I got pretty pissed, quit the team, and went back to the street courts. Then I moved to Japan about half a year later."

"So there are high expectations." Riko repeated from Kagami's earlier statement. She was already thinking of ways to improve upon the training regimen. If Kagami, in all his physical glory, couldn't get on Team America, then the other players that weren't part of the Generation of Miracles had lots of work to do. She would have to develop them from the basics.

"From their core skills..." Riko finished her own thoughts, "Natasha-chan was giving us good advice."

Michelle and Stephanie had walked out of the other room with their practice clothes on, and Michelle adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she walked away from the group, calling out to them without looking.

"We can't stand the guys team as much as any other opponent. Natasha hates that the coach isn't fair to us, and the guys hate that we can beat them sometimes in practice."

Stephanie turned around with a big grin on her face to add, "Everyone's mastered the basics and their technique. Almost as much as Michi-Michi has! Neechan just thinks your data is focusing on the unimportant details is all. Ganbatte'ne~!"

She closed the door before anyone could reply.

"Unimportant?!"

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime.**


	14. Practice Makes Perfect

"Cross over!" Natasha advised, watching as her team weaved through the cones across the court while dribbling, "Cross... Left... Right... Behind the back... Cross... Left... Right... Cross... Cross- _Michelle!_ Pay attention!"

"Gah! C'mon!" Michelle groaned at the thought of having to start over while the rest moved on. What they had set up on the court was similar to an obstacle course, designed for one to train all aspects of ball handling and dribbling. It was always the first hour of practice.

Natasha started them off at one end of the court, passing the ball at the corner where they stood behind the line. Cones were placed all around the three point line, where they would have to weave in front of them, back behind it, shoot, and go on to the next one. Because of the tournament, there was extra help that passed the balls back to the players, making it much easier for them to transition and keep shooting. From the first exercise they drove down the side of the court, using one hand to maneuver the ball to the left of the lane of cones and to the right of it. Once they finished that, they would be met with the other side of the court's cones. This time, they were to pass the regular ball to the ball handlers, and catch a specially marked purple and yellow ball, using that to pass from a cone at the point of the key to the half court in the middle, and after that pass go on to the next cone at a different point of the key, and so on and so forth till they reached the opposite end. It didn't end there though, after the special ball passing, they were to grab a regular ball and run to the other side, back to the beginning, following the ball handling instructions of Natasha.

Get anything wrong, and they would have to start from the beginning. Team Japan had decided to watch from the sidelines. They'd analyzed the play styles but, after hearing about using core exercises to sharpen their skills, Riko and Momoi thought that the practices would be an even better insight.

"Isn't that some sort of cheating?" Mitch jabbed a thumb back to the group watching them, and Natasha didn't bat an eyelash at them.

"Let them. It's not like they'll actually get better by watching. They have to do the exercises themselves." Natasha said, looking around the court to make sure everyone was doing well.

Riko's eyes narrowed in observation, "Like a well oiled machine... They have everything running smoothly, even if someone gets something wrong."

A sudden whistle blew, and all action on the court stopped.

"Hour's up! Start at two!" Natasha yelled.

Three of the girls collectively groaned, and Steph was left to giggle by herself, briefly running up to Team Japan while she could go unnoticed.

"Are you sure you're not bored? You can always join us!" She asked before going back to her teammates.

The team lined up at the start of where they drove the ball down, maneuvering the ball left and right, only to be tossed two balls before they started.

"Weave, side to side." Natasha said, started the exercise herself, side stepping to the front of the first cone while dribbling two balls and weaving behind the second one. Mitch opted to go last, watching as each girl completed this part of the course. For the next part, Natasha tossed one of the balls aside, but passed the regular ball to the one who had the specially marked purple ball. She shot with the special ball first before being passed the regular ball, moved to the next cone, and shot the special ball before the regular one, then it repeated again around the key.

"Sorry to ask, but, that's a weird colored ball... It's not standard, is it?" Sakurai asked Riko and Momoi.

"It's a medicine ball," Riko explained, "It's heavier than a regular ball, but is good for wrist strength in passing and ball handling. It exercises those muscles and you should have a stronger pass after continuous practice with it."

"Pst, Taiga, can I show off?" Michelle rose her brows twice in question, smiling wide at her own arrogance. Kagami wasn't amused.

"No!"

"No fun." Michelle chuckled, "But just so you know: Nat likes to slow it down for visitors. The real speed they're supposed to be doing the practices are faster."

Mitch began dribbling both balls in her hand, gaining enough speed before she winked.

Kagami rolled his eyes, "What was the point of asking!"

But Mitch was already off. She had side step weaved through the cones down the court in all of five seconds, pivoting while she weaved and turning so as not to lose speed. By the time she got to the shooting she had tossed the ball in her left aside and at the same time shot with the ball in her right, catching the medicine ball as soon as she released and shooting that one before immediately running to the next spot and releasing the regular ball as it had already been passed to the spot. She had gotten through that part of the exercise in fifteen seconds, already caught up to the rest and actually passed them as she began driving down the lane on the emptier side of the court. She laid up the ball first on the right side, and then on the left side. It wasn't that that had been notable though.

To calm herself down, Riko breathed through her nose, scoffing simultaneously, "She can use her left hand to play too."

"Only one of the guys on Team America can do it." Kagami explained, "He's been playing against Mitch as long as I have."

"You can do it too. I want you playing like a lefty in practice." Riko said, watching as Mitch opted to talk to the ball handlers that were helping with practice.

"Michelle!" Natasha called after all the girls had finished, "Center court. Defense practice: if you want to show off so bad let's show them something worthwhile."

Kagami laughed, "Nat doesn't like people watching them practice, especially when they can see how good their team is. So this means she's either not threatened by your decision to watch them, or she's helping us defeat the guys team."

"Which one do you think is more plausible?" Kuroko asked his friend. After all, it was unlikely that Team America would be so divided, and Natasha knows better than to take Team Japan lightly.

"Either one at this point." Kagami kept his eyes trained on the court, the ball handlers had cleared the court of any cones or obstacles.

Michelle stood at the center of the court, facing her teammates as they stood in two lines formed at two corners of the court. She patted her legs and bent down slightly, getting in a defensive position with a smile on her face.

"If one of us gets through you owe us lunch." Ashley wagered.

"You're on!"

Maria and Ashley both had a ball in their hands, and ran down the court.

Natasha stood next to Team Japan, watching the drill. "It's impossible to get any of the girls to seriously practice when we have an audience. Michelle loves to show off, especially to players that are good."

"We're sorry for the intrusion." Riko didn't sound sorry at all as she watched Ashley hit the half court line first and try to make a shot from there.

Mitch had run to block Ashley's shot, jumping at the same time as Ashley, and pushing the ball out of her hands. Just as she landed, she sped off to the other side of the court, tossing the first ball aside as she saw Maria approach the basket for a layup. Maria readied herself, hurrying to shoot as she heard Mitch coming from behind.

Mitch jumped, anticipating Maria to make the shot just as she approached. Maria, however, was smart enough to delay her shot, waiting for Mitch to jump in the air. The shorter girl took that chance, but didn't expect Mitch to laugh.

"I knew it." She grinned, turning around in the air and reaching forward, Mitch was able to push the ball away.

Maria huffed, "You're not supposed to have gotten to me fast enough."

"I'm feeling like I want a really expensive lunch." Michelle smiled as Ashley and Maria went to the lines again, "Let's say... Seafood?"

"No way!" Ashley refused, crossing her arms as she tried to figure out how to get through Michelle's defense.

"The only reason I'm allowing you to watch this exercise is to warn you." Natasha said, gaining the attention of Team Japan quickly, "Michelle was injured last year, and is out of shape. What you saw just now could probably compete with half of the men's Team America. She won't be able to compete properly with the starters until she's fully healed and in shape, which is in two weeks."

"So there's no way for us to properly gauge the strength of Team America." Midorima understood, fiddling with his glasses as he saw Steph try to distract Michelle while Maria attempted to lay up the ball. Michelle was fast enough, and skilled enough, to swat the ball out of Steph's hand and block Maria's shot again. Michelle laughed once more.

"So does that mean I get two free lunches now?"

"Don't even think about it!" Ashley warned playfully.

"Natasha, come on, let's either move on to the next exercise or come help us beat Mitch! She's asking for a free lunch for the _entire week_!" Maria pleaded.

"You won't be getting anything useful from us. We do the basic practices same as all of you." Natasha said, "But if you want to beat the men's team: defense is your best chance."

She turned around, "Michelle, take a break! We don't want you getting injured during practice. The rest of us: let's do a scrimmage."

Michelle shrugged, panting because it had taken a lot of energy to make sure no one got past her. Before her injuries, Michelle remembered being able to play the entire day.

"You never told me you were injured." Kagami stated, obviously asking for an explanation as she sat next to them.

"I don't remember it," She laughed at the face of shock Kagami made, "I passed out, woke up in the hospital, and they told me I had to take a year off to recover. The doctors cleared me for this tournament so I can kick your ass." She grinned as Kagami nudged her enough to almost topple her over.

"It must have been a competitive game to have you injured." Kuroko observed.

That's when Michelle frowned, "Yeah. Must have been. What do you all do for practice?"

This time Riko grinned, "Would you like to see?"

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime.**


End file.
